Huge, enormous thanks to an amazing, crazy-smart, twitter friend, Katharina Gerlach, who came through with this post on mythology. She’s so much fun on twitter and I had NO idea she studied my favorite thing ever. Mythology! If you’re into it like we are, then this one’s for you. ENJOY!!

A tentative comparison of Greek, Roman, and Norse myths

It’s no big secret that the Romans assimilated a lot of the Greek pantheon and culture. Seeing that both cultures lived in close proximity, that’s not surprising. Zeus became Jupiter, Hermes turned into Mercury, Athene showed up as Minerva. Even minor Greek gods appear in the Roman religion (here’s a full table of all Greek gods and their roman counterparts).

I personally find it rather interesting to see how closely the two religions resemble each other. In both, the gods are unpredictable for the humans living with them in the same world. The gods give little to no thought to the humans and reward or punish them according to their whim. Their feuds and petty rivalries jeopardize human life more often than not, and they behave like spoiled children most of the time, celebrating in a luxurious realm.

The only exception to this rule is Prometheus (not a real god but one of the last titans) whose story is exactly the same in both religions. He helps creating the humans and brings them the fire that Zeus/Jupiter wants to keep for the gods. This story alone shows that the Greek and Roman thought their gods like over-emphasized humans with the same but amplified faults.

In contrast, the Norse gods are much darker and brooding. Although they, like the Greek/Roman gods, are a pantheon with lots of family ties and one ruling god, the way their respective worshipers saw them differed greatly. The Norse gods were much more approachable for the humans and less unpredictable. True, they also had their feuds, but they were more personal and hardly ever involved humans. Loki enjoyed playing tricks on the other gods and then they struggled with each other, not with humans. All-father Odin issued few punishments despite (or maybe because) knowing things that were to come. The only real punishment I remember is when the gods tie Loki to a rock where a snake drops venom onto him. They allow his wife Sigyn to stand beside him to catch the venom in a bowl, giving Loki spells of relative peace until she has to empty the bowl (True, none of the gods, Greek, Roman and Norse were particularly nice to each other). All-father Odin’s main goal was to gain as much knowledge as possible even at high costs to himself. The gods were not playful like Greek and Roman gods, but preparing for the final battle between the different realms of their world.

One thing that seems to be the same in all three of the religions is the belief that the lives of humans and gods alike were predetermined by the Fates (or Nornes in Norse mythology). In all three religions, three women governed everything that happened in the past, now, and future. Thus, the Nornes/Fates are more powerful than the gods. I think it rather surprising that the concept behind such an important part of religion as the personal freedom of the individual, be it god or human, is the same in all these religions. To me, it suggests either a crosspollination of the religions or an adaptation of an even older, now forgotten religion.

Interestingly, in the Roman and Greek religion, there’s just one place where souls go after death: the underworld ruled by Hades/Pluto. There, the souls deemed unworthy are sent to Tartarus (equal hell) and the worthy souls go to the Elysian fields (equal heaven). The underworld is circled by a river and guarded by a three headed dog. Imagine my surprise when I found that one of the Norse underworlds looks just the same. Helheim, the home of the goddess of death, Hel, is circled by a river that even the gods can only cross into her realm but not back out, and it is guarded by… a monstrous dog. Those souls (human and god alike) who died from diseases, accidents, old age and such would go to Helheim upon their death. But Norse mythology held three more places souls could go after death. The most widely known is Valhalla, where Odin collected the most courageous fighters for Ragnarok. Men who died fighting but didn’t outshine others would go to Folkvang. Finally, drowned sailors would be collected by Ran to her hall.

An interesting difference between Roman and Greek concerns the role of humans in the religion. Whereas the heroic deeds by the Roman gods were more important than the actions of men, in Greek mythology, humans were just as important as goods because they contributed significantly to the society. Also, in Roman mythology, good deeds and heroic acts could elevate a mortal to a god-like status. The Greek are much more concerned with the physical life on earth. The afterlife seems to have a much smaller importance in everyday life than in Roman or Norse mythology (I’m not an expert so don’t crucify me if I’m wrong).

The most important difference between Roman and Greek gods and the Aesir is that in addition to a myth of creation (all three have similar myths of creation: the slaying of older gods/giants), the Norse also have a myth of destruction. During this final fight, Ragnarok, all gods would fall. The whole universe of the Nordic gods would be destroyed. However, it would not end. From the ashes, a new world would rise with two humans, Lif and Lifthrasir. Also two gods, Balder and his blind brother Hod, would be reborn, and together they would begin a new world.

For me, that makes the Nordic mythology a more advanced sort of religion, one that looks past its own demise – that’s rare even in today’s religions. I find it fascinating to see how much of what has been hidden from the wave of Christianization burning through Europe survived, and how much could be reconstructed from the few sources that remained. Without a doubt the Greek and Roman religions and their cultures have influenced the way the Christian religion developed, and thus played a major role in the way humans in Europe evolved and spread throughout the world. The impact of the Nordic myths and legends is less visible. I know that they have been misused in the Third Reich, and still there are many people who misuse them to this day. However, I personally believe that the Nordic myths and legends shaped our point of view much more than we give them credit for.

Born and raised German with a good helping of Scottish adoptive heritage, Katharina Gerlach has been writing stories in the realms of fantasy and historical fiction for many years. She managed to convince a German agent, but the search for a fitting publisher took too long. So she began to self-publish her novels in German and English and has garnered a few awards since. Visit her website or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

With the chaos of summer tourists and fall birders out of town, counselor Patience Price is looking forward to the quiet life she remembers. She longs for some peace. And an apple fritter. But the calm is cut short when a reality show sets up camp to film a special about ghosts on her little island. Now fans, reporters and crew have flocked to sleepy Chincoteague. Who knew ghost hunters had an entourage?

When two cast members are killed in a room at the local B&B—a room usually occupied by Patience’s FBI agent boyfriend, Sebastian—she finds herself on the case. Sebastian doesn’t want Patience ruffling any feathers but, as always, she can’t help herself.

Patience promises to let Sebastian handle the investigation—he is FBI, after all—but after a drive-by shooting, her wicked curiosity gets the best of her. And with the TV show forging ahead with filming, the list of suspects (and the line of food trucks) only grows. But has the shooter already flown the coop? And how do you find a killer when you don’t know who the target is?

*Be sure to also check out the first two books in the Patience Price Mysteries series, Murder by the Seaside & Murder Comes Ashore

London, 1679. Isabel, Lady Wilde, mistress of King Charles II, has made a good living disguised as fortune teller Mistress Ruby, counseling London’s elite. But after the murder of one of her customers, business has taken a downturn, and Isabel is on the verge of accepting the king’s offer to move into the palace.

Isabel’s plans are interrupted when a beggar girl named Susanna shows up at her home, claiming to be her niece. Isabel always believed that her older brother, Adam, died alone during the plague. When Susanna reveals that Adam was actually murdered, Isabel is compelled to take up an impossible task: discover the truth about her brother’s death, twelve years after it happened.

Isabel’s investigation leads her through the gamut of London society, from bear-baiting matches and brothels to the realm of wealthy bankers. But as she uncovers her brother’s dark secrets, Isabel begins to wonder whether the past is better left buried—especially when uncovering the truth could lead to her own funeral.

*Be sure to check out Mistress of Fortune, book #1 in this series by Holly West

I’m Floyd—no last name needed, thanks—and I’m a P.I. The only other thing you need to know about me is that I’m not an Elvis impersonator. I live my life fast and hard and yes, in sequined jumpsuits, but more importantly I live my life the way Elvis would have wanted me to. Honestly. With integrity.
It was a tip that the King was still alive and living under an assumed name that brought me to Kresge,

Wyoming. But there’s something bigger than Elvis happening out here. I’ve been beaten bloody by an acrobatic bartender, roped into the search for a missing councilman, fallen for a bearded lady, and threatened by men in black who really don’t want me poking my nose into the town’s business. Half of my leads look like dead celebrities. The other half are either refugees from a broken-down circus or spear-holding Viking wannabes.

I’m in Crazytown, USA, but I can’t leave. Not yet. If I don’t find the missing councilman soon, Kresge will be turned into a Danish-themed amusement park. I’ve never been so close to finding Elvis. And I need to know if my new self-appointed sidekick James Morrison is really who he claims to be.

Ex-con Jason Carr has faced down the toughest thugs in Cardiff, but being assistant to a brilliant, eccentric hacker who hasn’t been outdoors in ten years has its own challenges. Still, he and Amy Lane can solve cases even the cops can’t crack. And when a corpse washes up on a beach, Jason can’t resist chasing the clues—or defying Amy by infiltrating the very gangs he once escaped.

Amy is distraught when Jason’s pursuit gets him framed for murder. He’s thrown back in prison where he’s vulnerable to people who want him dead. He needs Amy to prove his innocence. Fast.

But Amy hasn’t been honest with him—her panic attacks aren’t getting better. And now, with everything that makes her feel safe ripped away, she must stand alone, using her technological skills to expose a baffling conspiracy and a new kind of online crime. Can she clear Jason’s name before danger closes in?

*Be sure to also check out Binary Witness, book #1 in the Amy Lane Mysteries.

Take a walk around town, where there is only one stoplight, one gas station, one grocery story, many churches and one lake. But, oh man, what a lake.

Honey Creek Lake is where a lot of the magic and drama happens in the sweet, little town. Maybe take a dip in our man-made waters. Walk along the edge and watch the boaters zip by sending waves a water to lap the shores. Have a lazy day, cast out a line and wait for the fish to bite. Or maybe, grab the hand of your loved one and step inside our new gazebo. Slip under our famous Weeping Willow and steel a kiss from your sweetie. Every corner of our lake holds a story. When you’re there, create your own.

Head five miles back into town from the lake, stop by our White Cottage Restaurant, and have a slice of strawberry pie, although I’m partial to the lemon meringue. The pie display case and red-topped tables only add to the incredible yummies filling every plate. Catch 22 Pizza sets off the perfect Italian mood with soft lighting and scents of garlic, warm bread and spicy sauce. Grab a slice or an entire pizza pie. Is doesn’t matter because after one bite, you’ll be back for more.

If you’re only here for a short while, maybe plan a trip back during our summer months. We host a Strawberry Festival with music and booths full of berry fare. July plays host to a Fourth of July celebration with a parade and fireworks at the lake. Rent a cabin and stay awhile. You’re sure to find whatever you’re looking for in our charming town and rural county.

Honey Creek sets the stage for a sweet Young Adult novella, Ice Princess. In it, Mya wants to shake things up in her small town. But once she’s given what she wants, will she change her mind and crave for normalcy.

Here’s an excerpt from Ice Princess, Honey Creek Royalty Book 1:

“Okay. Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A farmer and a pig….”

“Stop,” I yelled without looking up.

“I already told you that one?”

“No, but any joke starting with a farmer and pig can’t be good.” I rolled over on the large towel we’d spread across the sand. It was the last day of summer vacation, and Michael and I agreed to spend the day together doing nothing but enjoying the sun. Living in Ohio, we weren’t sure how many more days we had left. Soon the leaves would fall showing off snow-covered cornfields.

“Can you toss me a Dr. Pepper?”

“Sure.” Without looking, I reached into the small red Igloo cooler we brought and produced a cold dripping can. I knew it was for him since I preferred bottled water to soda. Not Michael. The kid lived on caffeine and sugar. Which made the lack of fat on his body hard to explain. Not that I’d ever noticed. Michael Graves was my best friend. And nothing more.

“So, you ready for tomorrow?”

“Sure, I guess,” I answered. “How’s it any different than the last three years at Fayette County High? Really, we’ve known the same people and gone to school with them for the past twelve years. We all know who we’re gonna eat lunch with or who we’re gonna sit with at opening assembly. Boring.” I wasn’t a pessimist or a Debbie Downer, but Honey Creek needed some excitement and I didn’t think our senior year would prove to be any different unless something unusual happened.

“Ok. So why don’t we spice it up a bit.”

“Like what?”

“Let’s start a nasty rumor or sit at a different table at lunch.”

“Ooh, Michael, you’re so scandalous! Have I been rubbing off on you?”

“Hardly. I think the most daring thing you’ve ever done was streak across my yard when we were five because you’d heard wearing your bathing suit gave you tan lines. Even though you had no idea what tan lines were, I might add,” he said with a smirk. The afternoon sun danced across his blonde moppy hair, intensifying his golden highlights. He sat next to me in a short beach chair staring out at the water. Everyone we knew was out enjoying the last weekend of August. All of the rental cottages were empty from the few Honey Creek vacationers that came to visit the lake. It was a manmade watering hole, but that didn’t take away from the fun had there. Boats skidded across the water pulling skiers or tubers in their wake. The sand was dressed with towels and blankets full of half-clothed bodies soaking up the sun like Michael and me.

“So word around town is there’s a new kid coming to school.”

Read more from this author in the Small Town Charm Box Set! 8 Stories. 8 Authors. 99 cents!

**for a limited time**

Small town America has its charm—not to mention its fair share of romance and mystery!

Everyone knows small towns have their own unique charm, that’s why they make fabulous settings for stories! Turquoise Morning Press presents the best of their small town settings—all in one volume, and for one very small town price!

From Drakes Springs, Florida, to Briny Bay, North Carolina, to Wheeler, Texas, where a little romance and a lot of murder and mystery take center-stage—and then to Honey Creek, Ohio and Legend, Tennessee, where home-grown romance blooms, and love lives right next door.

Eight fabulous authors share their views of small town charm, love and mystery in this eight book boxed set—providing you with a satisfying glimpse into the lives and stories of the quirky characters who live in these charming settings.

Mya Newman never minded the routine or quiet that came with living in Honey Creek, Ohio. For her senior year, she craves something exciting to happen instead of it melting into a cookie cutter routine like the previous years.

When a new girl, Audrey Moore, moves to town, Mya finds herself caught in a triangle. She discovers hidden feelings for her best friend, Michael Graves, but he seems to have eyes for the new girl.

After Mya’s father becomes ill and eventually passes, she turns to her best friend, Michael. He never leaves her side, but she wonders if he’d rather be elsewhere. With fear of rejection and loss of friendship, Mya decides she can’t confess her recently discovered feelings.

When Michael and Mya share a dance at the Winter Formal, does she open her heart to him? Or does she shy away, forever longing to be the princess who finds her prince?

4 Star LASR Review: Great Read!

“It is a wonderfully emotional short story with just the right balance of sweetness and sadness. I recommend it to anyone who relishes a charming story of love and friendship.”

“The emotional scenes in the hospital and day of funeral are great – I know I cried when I reviewed initially, and I cried again in both read throughs this week – I’m such a sap ” -Wendy on GoodReads

Thank you for having me *wink wink*. Small Town Charm, Love & Mystery is available wherever e-books are sold.

I’m a Mommy, wife and now author. Even though I’ve spent many years on either coast, I’ve spent a majority of my life in the Midwest. Here is where my heart grows with the love and support of my family and friends and here is where I find inspiration for my stories.

I’m also excited to announce Spider, my first non-series YA novel will also release in 2013. My Brother’s Wedding, a contemporary romance, releases in e-book only in August 2013. Stay tuned for more news.

Coming from Chicago, where I’d been raised, I thought I’d met small towns when I moved to Kirksville, Missouri (pop. 1960s about 12,000). But I didn’t really know about small towns until the late 1970s when I started visiting Ben Wheeler and Edom in East Texas. My good friends, Charlie and Reva Ogilvie, had a guest ranch outside Ben Wheeler, and we ate at The Shed in Edom frequently.

Ben Wheeler bothered me. It was then almost a ghost town, with boarded up store fronts, though I understand it’s had a renaissance, thanks to the man who bought Arc Ridge Ranch from the Ogilvies. It was like many small towns I had driven through: it needed a coat of paint. We went once to a dilapidated roller skating rink (my kids loved it) and more often than I liked to a dismal grocery store, since boarded up, where I trusted neither the cleanliness nor the temperature of the refrigerator and freezer units. Don’t even talk about the freshness of the vegetables. For real grocery shopping, we went to Brookshires in Canton, but I guess that’s a feature of small-town life—going to the nearest good-sized town for a lot of things.

Edom, on the other hand, delighted me. We went several years to the annual craft fair, and other times we wandered the main street which featured craft shops—pottery, leather workers, jewelry makers, and a wonderful women’s clothing store. I was amazed that the main street, a state highway, had neither stoplight nor stop sign. You took your chances and you ran like hell.

The best thing in Edom to my family was The Shed.

I suppose The Shed isn’t much different from lots of small-town cafés with chicken-fried steak, fried catfish, glorious meringue pies (Charlie told me it was all air so no calories, and I reminded him about the pudding bottom), and huge breakfasts. The thing I loved most was that everyone knew Charlie and Reva and greeted them happily. We basked in a small afterglow of fame because we were their guests.

That café and that town became so firmly embedded in my mind that they formed the setting for my mystery series, Blue Plate Café Mysteries. I changed the town name to Wheeler, but no one from that part of the state will be fooled, and I was careful to note that the murders there were from my imagination and reflected in no way on Edom or its residents. But the fictional counterpart of The Shed is central to the story.

A friend who grew up in Granbury, Texas wrote me, “You nailed small-town life.” It was the biggest compliment I could have gotten.

Murder at the Blue Plate Cafe

Small towns are supposed to be idyllic and peaceful, but when Kate Chambers returns to her hometown of Wheeler, Texas, she soon learns it is not the comfortable place it was when she grew up. First there’s Gram’s sudden death, which leaves her suspicious, and then the death of her married sister’s lover. Kate runs Gram’s restaurant, the Blue Plate Café, but she must defend her sister against a murder charge, solve the murders to keep her business open, and figure out where the café’s profits are going. Even Kate begins to wonder about the twin sister she has a love-hate relationship with. Gram guides Kate through it all, though Kate’s never quite sure she’s hearing Gram—and sometimes Gram’s guidance is really off the wall.

Kate’s adventures continue in Murder at Tremont House, when she still has to deal with a journalist, intent on probing small-town secrets, gone missing, contradictory stories about the local teen-age heartthrob, and the series of men who seem to rotate through her life.

No, life in a small town is anything but idyllic and peaceful. But Kate loves the café, and she shares some of her favorite recipes—and some of her good friends.

Read more from this author in the Small Town Charm Box Set! 8 Stories. 8 Authors. 99 cents!

**for a limited time**

Small town America has its charm—not to mention its fair share of romance and mystery!

Everyone knows small towns have their own unique charm, that’s why they make fabulous settings for stories! Turquoise Morning Press presents the best of their small town settings—all in one volume, and for one very small town price!

From Drakes Springs, Florida, to Briny Bay, North Carolina, to Wheeler, Texas, where a little romance and a lot of murder and mystery take center-stage—and then to Honey Creek, Ohio and Legend, Tennessee, where home-grown romance blooms, and love lives right next door.

Eight fabulous authors share their views of small town charm, love and mystery in this eight book boxed set—providing you with a satisfying glimpse into the lives and stories of the quirky characters who live in these charming settings.

An award-winning novelist, Judy Alter is the author of five books in the Kelly O’Connell Mysteries series: Skeleton in a Dead Space, No Neighborhood for Old Women,Trouble in a Big Box, Danger Comes Home and Deception in Strange Places. With the Blue Plate Mystery series, Murder at the Blue Plate Café and Murder at the Tremont House, she moved from inner city Fort Worth to small-town East Texas to create a new set of characters in a setting modeled after a restaurant that was for years one of her family’s favorites.

Before turning her attention to mystery, Judy wrote fiction and nonfiction, mostly about women of the American West, for adults and young-adult readers. Her work has been recognized with awards from the Western Writers of America, the Texas Institute of Letters, and the National Cowboy Museum and Hall of Fame. She has been honored with the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Achievement by WWA and inducted into the Texas Literary Hall of Fame at the Fort Worth Public Library.

Daydreams, night dreams, dreams of the future, dreams of the past. They all affect us in some way. Everyone has dreams of what they want in their own futures. But what if you could see the future and it wasn’t what you wanted? That’s the question that inspired my book, Shades of the Future.

You see, I’ve always had inklings of things to come. I might be driving down the road and realize that I haven’t seen so-and-so in such a long time, and wouldn’t it be funny if I ran into her today? If I get little goose bumps down my spine, I know it will happen.

There was the time I was driving home from work and I just knew I was going to have a car accident. I brushed it off as stress, but sure enough, at the top of an overpass, I was accordionated along with six other cars when the driver of the car in front slammed on his brakes. Fortunately no one was hurt. The weirdest part of that one was my husband knew I’d been in an accident, almost as soon as it happened, even though he was miles away.

Then there was a time a friend told me she was going on a weekend visit with someone she’d met online. I immediately thought of her getting pregnant, and goose bumps quickly followed. She laughed at me and told me it was nothing like that, there wasn’t going to be any hanky-panky because they were just friends. I think you can guess the ending to that story.

The thing is, although I sometimes get these inklings, there’s never a darn thing I can do about it to change them. I’ve often wondered what’s the use of knowing about things in advance if you can’t control the outcomes.

That’s exactly the situation my heroine, Mariah Davis finds herself in when she puts on a pair of sunglasses that allow her to see the future. She sees some good things and some bad things coming down the road. She tries to do everything she can to stop the bad things. Instead of avoiding fate, she faces it head on and has to learn how to deal with the hard times, as well as how to trust in those she loves.

In the meantime, care to share stories? Have you ever known about something before it happened? What was it, and were you able to change it in any way?

Read more from this author in the Small Town Charm Box Set! 8 Stories. 8 Authors. 99 cents!

***For a limited time***

Small town America has its charm—not to mention its fair share of romance and mystery!

Everyone knows small towns have their own unique charm, that’s why they make fabulous settings for stories! Turquoise Morning Press presents the best of their small town settings—all in one volume, and for one very small town price!

From Drakes Springs, Florida, to Briny Bay, North Carolina, to Wheeler, Texas, where a little romance and a lot of murder and mystery take center-stage—and then to Honey Creek, Ohio and Legend, Tennessee, where home-grown romance blooms, and love lives right next door.

Eight fabulous authors share their views of small town charm, love and mystery in this eight book boxed set—providing you with a satisfying glimpse into the lives and stories of the quirky characters who live in these charming settings.

Suzanne Lilly is a teacher and a writer who occasionally takes time off to zipline in Alaska, teach in China, and traipse around Rome. She writes sweet stories with a splash of suspense, a flash of the unexplained, a dash of romance, and always a happy ending.

Sign up for her email newsletter to find out about upcoming books before anyone else. You’ll also get exclusive bonus materials and contests just for subscribers. One subscriber is chosen to win a $25 gift card each time the newsletter comes out. Sign up for my occasional newsletter

What reviewers are saying about Shades of the Future

This is ultimately the coolest YA book I’ve ever read. You don’t have to be a teen to love this book! ~~~LAS YA Reviews Long and Short Reviews

This is a charming YA book! The character of Mariah is someone you would love to hang out with–and the town of Honey Creek–let’s just say I would love to have grown up there! ~~~Judy Thomas